Life After Death
by jessie messy
Summary: Alex is heartbroken to find he's lost Claire just a few momments before his proposal. Now she's gone forever.
1. She's gone

The day dawned quietly the usual noises waking Claire from a deep sleep. She looked over at the cot and saw Charlotte resting. "Hey little bom Ready to have a go on a horsey?" Claire said grinning at her little child. "Chating up a girl now are ya?" said Alex leaning on the door post his blue eyes smiling. "Shut it you" said Claire grinning at him. "I've got to get back to Wilgul see ya later" said Alex turning. Claire was absent-mindly driving to Wilgul for dinner. "Hey BOM you sure about this dress it isn't me is it? if Alex laughs I will KILL Tess" said Claire laughing gently. Suddenly out of nowhere a horse burst through the fence. Claire swerved violently sheilding BOM the car slammed into a tree. Claire's head was bleeding and her chest was bairly rising. "Your okay my darling litle bom" Claire's voice died in her throat. Alex was fiddling with the ring. "Hey Nick do you think I'm doing the right thing?" asked Alex biting his lip. "Alex stop worrying isn't she meant to be here?" replied Nick biting down on a piece of carrot and dip. "Where is she?" worried Alex. "Call Tess see if shes still getting ready you know what women are like" said Nick begining to eat his way through most of the entrees. "Hey Tess is Claire there?" alex said tapping his finger on the ring case. "No she left ages ago" said Tess sounding worried. "She should be here by now" said Alex his chest tightening. "Meet you half way down the road" said Tess. Alex was riding hard on one of Wilgul's new horses a bay gelding christened Hannibal because of it's vicious eating style. "Claire I love you I have always loved you You have to be okay" ale thought in time to the horses gait As he came around the corner of the road, he saw Claire's car wrapped around a tree. The door had flung off and glass was everywhere. You could hardly make out it was a car. Alex's heart stopped. "Claire!!!" he yelled but he hardly had his voice. Alex ran to the passenger's door. There was little BOM, crying but unharmed. Claire had put her whole body over her, shielding Charlotte from the impact. Alex touched Charlotte's face and kept calling Claire's name but she was lying face down. "Claire! Claire! Wake up! Come on! Talk to me!" There was no sound. He went around to the driver's door and tried to lift Claire into a sitting position. She felt heavy and lifeless. Blood dripped from her forehead onto Alex's shirt. Then he saw her eyes - they were open, her beautiful, blue eyes, staring into nothing. "Alex!! Claire! Oh my God! No!" Tess ran screaming up the side of the road towards Alex, who was crouching next to the car holding Claire's cold hand. "Claire!" Tess sat down beside Alex and cried with him. Alex got out his phone and tried to call an ambulance but he was shaking too much and he couldn't speak properly. Tess took it out of his hand and yelled down the line for help. They'd be there in 15 minutes - it was too late for Claire, but perhaps BOM needed help. "She's cold, Tess." Alex took his sweatshirt off and wrapped it around Claire's shoulders. He didn't want to believe that she couldn't be saved. "Alex." Tess whispered. "I'm so sorry, but I think you need that to keep warm." "NO! Alex sounded angry. "Claire's getting cold" He reached into his pocket and opened a small velvet case. He held the ring in front of Claire's face "Look what I got you Claire. I love you. I always have, always will." He raised her left hand and placed the ring on her engagement finger. It was cold. "There's nothing you can do." Tess was crying. She put her arm around Alex. He had lost his best friend and his only love. She had lost her only sister. She wasn't going to let her only niece die too. Tess ran around to Charlotte and picked her up out of her booster-seat. Charlotte started crying again. Tess took her round to Alex and he held her in his arms. Then Tess closed Claire's eyelids so it looked like she was sleeping. She couldn't bear to see her sister like that. 


	2. Face reality

Charlotte began to cry. Tess held her gently holding the living memory of her sister. Alex sat Claire's lifeless body in his arms. The ambulance came and went taking Claire's still body with them. Tess and Alex stood for more than an hour bound by their grief. Alex began to pull himself together. "Tell everyone what happened take Charlotte I couldn't bear it tonight" he said quietly through a voice thick with suppressed emotion. Alex then got to his feet and hopped slowly onto Hannibal. He arrived home and tended to the horse. Nick grinned as him came in his body still numb with the shock of loosing the one thing that made his life worth living. "Did ya date stand you up hey al?" asked Nick a stupid smile on his face. "You have no idea do you? She was the one thing that made me tick made every day seem all the brighter now she's been taken away I loved her and will forever" Alex shouted his hatred of losing Claire pounding through his veins. "Hey take it easy mate what's up?" asked Nick suddenly loosing the grin and looking concerned. "Claire she's.. she's dead" said Alex breaking down into hopeless tears. "Oh my god your kidding? Oh god that's awful is Charlotte okay?" said Nick looking utterly mortified about teasing Alex. Alex leaned against the back of the couch sobbing his heart out. "She meant the world to me We had something that I could never have with someone else it was beyond love" Alex said tears pouring down his face..... Tess got home looking like a stunned mullet. "Hey Tess where ya been we've had dinner" said Becky as Tess entered the room her normally cheerful face white and shocked. "What's wrong?" asked Meg taking one look at Tess and guiding her to the couch. Tess broke out into violent sobs. "Claire she had a car crash" said Tess through sobs the suppressed emotion spilling over and taking control making her body shake. "Is she okay Where? Tess darling tell me" said Meg. "She died Meg she was beyond saving" cried Tess. "Oh my god.." said Meg tears leaking out of her eyes. Becky sat slowly down on the couch. Jodi stood transfixed in the door way with a bowl in her hand...  
  
That night Alex couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in bed, trying to make himself comfortable but nothing seemed to be working. All he could think about was Claire. Could she see him or hear him somehow? Alex didn't believe in ghosts or spirits but he so desperately wished Claire were with him.  
  
He tossed the bedcovers off and sat at the side of the bed with his face in his hands. He drew in a deep breath, held it, and let it out. Deep breathing usually helped him calm his nerves, but nothing could calm him now Claire was gone. Alex stood up and stumbled to the kitchen. He turned the light on but it was too bright on his sore and swollen eyes that he turned it off and sat at the table in the dark.  
  
Tess was lying on her side with her arms huddled tight beneath her chest. She woke when she heard a noise, a scraping on the creaky floorboards. She clenched the pillow and whispered "Whose out there?" Tess was starting to freak out - she was alone now that Claire was gone, that huge house was all hers and she didn't like sleeping on her own. She sat up and hugged her knees, and then she saw Claire standing at the door in her blue, flannelette pyjamas. "Claire?" Tess was shocked. "Yea?" Claire said, half asleep. She seemed pretty real, and Tess started to wonder if she was just dreaming that Claire had been in a car accident. "What are you doing here?" "Oh, just getting a drink. Do you want one?" "No thanks" Said Tess. "Ok, well, see ya in the morning." "Goodnight" Tess lay back down on the pillow. She was so relieved - it was all a dream. She couldn't wait until the morning.  
  
The next morning Tess woke to the sound of the usual birds singing and lambs calling. It had to be the perfect day. She put on her dressing gown and wandered down to breakfast, smiling. "Nice day isn't it?" She said to Meg who was cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast.  
  
Meg put the pan down and went over to Tess, her eyes were swollen and Tess realised something was wrong. "Look Tess, I know it's hard, but you have to face reality, you cant pretend Claire's here forever. Don't force yourself to get over it, just let it out, Tess, let it out." Tess started to shake. "No! Where's Claire?" Then she remembered what happened yesterday - it wasn't a dream, she was only dreaming that Claire had appeared to her. She felt so stupid and they cried in each other's arms.  
  
Alex didn't want to eat anything. He wasn't even hungry, or thirsty - he just wanted Claire. Nick came in teary-eyed but you could tell he was trying to be strong. "Want toast?" he asked tossing two pieces of stale bread into the toaster. "No." Alex mumbled like a grumpy teenager. "Cornflakes?" Alex didn't answer. "What do you want then?" "Claire. just Claire." Alex stood up and walked out. He decided that he had to pull himself together, and he would spend the day in the fields working to keep his mind of it, pretend it all didn't happen. 


End file.
